Technology has played a major role in determining the contours of human societies. With technology designed for use in democracy, people are able to do modern political campaign, receive polling data and many others. In a discussion lead by Kelly Dietrich, founder of the National Democratic Training Committee, Dietrich tries to educate citizens on the polling technology we read about everyday in our newspapers. The discussion analyzes how polling data is collected especially as related to the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. Dietrich and his guest look at how campaigns are run in today’s world drawing examples from the midterm.

When it comes to elections, too much of the public focuses only at who is leading in polls. People who analyze opinion polls often make the same mistakes. As a result, many never saw the victory of Donald Trump in 2016 coming. With all the observers America has to offer, why such faulty analysis? This following question was thrown to the audience as to whither polling and data work together in the future:

Polling is always one of the focal points for the public’s attention leading up to elections. In 2016, very few pollsters forecasted the Trump win accurately. Some blame this on the Clinton campaign’s reliance on analytics and modeling, rather than polling and door-to-door experience. Can polling and data work together in the future?

To Dietrich a poll is not really about who is winning but about the snapshot of the campaign, comparing last week’s progress in public opinion to this week. Dietrich goes ahead to tell the audience about the different kinds of polling they may be missing out on.

The event was held at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, located at the University of Kansas, an institution that is “devoted to encouraging participation in political issues and civil discussion in a dual-party, in a morally stable way”. The video lasts about an hour. Take a look: